Product Description

User Reviews

Overall Rating:

Value Rating:

Submitted by
o3dave
a Audio Enthusiast

Date Reviewed: March 10, 2010

Bottom Line:

The other reviews are spot on. These PSB Century 1000i speakers are fine indeed. I bought mine on Craig's List from a guy that had purchased new and somehow managed to beat up the cabinets and grills without playing them much at all. They are not as good as my Dahlquist DQ-10's (buy the DQ-10's if you have the money, space, and high powered amp), but have a small footprint, are room/placement friendly and non fatiguing. Not sure if they do anything extra extra special - but they are very easy to live with. Only using a 70 watt/channel HK AVR70 to drive them, and it's plenty. Great speakers for jazz - Diana Krall sounds too good to turn off. Since I bought these, I have been looking to buy a second pair, and have not seen any. Good luck with your search.

Although there are better speakers out there, none produces the sonic aspects as well as the PSB's for the cost. Bass response is indeed the strong suit of these speakers, but midrange and high frequencies are also very smooth and refined. The soundstage is however not as good as some speakers, but you'll pay a lot more $ to get a better overall sound. Jazz and chamber music on the 1000i's are luscious.

As Stereo Review once wrote, "This is one fine speaker!".I originally chose to purchase this speaker because it hasa very warm and flat British sound. After using it for afew months (and listening to my friends B&W's), I wasdissapointed in the bass, the fact that male and femalevoices sounded "shut-in", and that the upper mids and highssounded dull.I decided to try to do some upgrades in order to improvethe sound after becoming more literate about audio andhome theater technology and products. The first thing Idid was change my receiver. I purchased the MarantzSR-7000. The receiver increased the dynamic range on myspeakers and increased the bass slightly. The otherproblems still remained.I then decided to change my speaker wire. I purchased athree meter pair of Nordost Flatline Biwire. Wow! Biwiringspeakers that have four binding posts is a must. TheFlatlines are fast, open, and detailed. Male and femaledvoices didn't sound shut in anymore. As well, after thewires burnt in for a month and a half, the problem I hadwith the bass was gone as well.The only problem I have left is that the upper mids andhighs still sound dull. I doesn't help that I bought theMarantz SR-7000. The receiver is great but mixing a warmreceiver with a warm speaker creates too much warmth! Iam going to sell my receiver and Marantz five disc changerand probably go with the Nakamichi AV-10 or Denon AVR2801.I know the Nak is very detailed, open, and bright, and I amhoping that it will solve the last and final problem. Ifnot, my Value Rating, and Overall Rating will go down byone star.Still, the flat frequency response, good mids, and tightbass that these speakers put out, for the price I paid forthem, makes them a true audiophile bargain. I hope theNakamichi opens the upper mids and highs because thespeakers only sing when I turn the volume up quite a bit-which may get me evicted one of these days!

After listening to mission, b&w and paradigm to name a few, i decided on the psb 1000i. At the price i payed 825(for the black oak) they just could not be beat. The psbs may be a little layed back but i like the layed back sound, i can listen for hours and it has enough detail for even the most demanding recordings. I have had the 1000is for nearly 4 years now and am thinking of puting them in the rear and stepping up to the silver is , but am undecided on whether the silver is are that much better. At any rate , Paul Barton produced a terrific value when he created the 1000is.

Have had the 1000i's for about a year and love them. Auditioned several otherbrands like B&W, Paradigm, NHT,Energy etc. Best speaker in a very competitiveprice category. Energy C6's finished second in my evaluation with the ParadigmReference last.